Mud People

They are six people making their livings as a schoolteacher/poet, a freelance journalist, an office manager, a masseuse and in other familiar jobs. They are also the Los Angeles Mudpeople, a self-named “urban tribe� that eschews spoken language and most clothing for its walkabouts in local parks, in parades and at other public spots. They got together about eight years ago, inspired by a similar group in Colorado.

Their aim, they say, is to challenge onlookers with a “culture out of context,� but they deny that what they do is performance art. It is also not an anthropological display, though the links to certain New Guinea tribes are unmistakable.

What is it? Here are photos from an outing a few weeks ago. You decide.